What makes a Van Gogh painting worth $82.5 million and another good painting worth millions and millions less? “The art world has capitalized on the fact that most people believe they can’t really understand why a work of art is worth what the market is asking. It helps to realize that the process of setting value is different for dead artists such as Van Gogh, whose works now trade more like commodities, and living artists, whose worth is still being determined, particularly if they are young.”